Symposium Session – What is the Aether?

What is the Aether?

Presented by Zebulon Vitruvius Pike

How we know the luminiferous aether doesn’t exist but can ignore that anyway.

The luminiferous aether is nearly ubiquitous in steampunk but what is it really? How did the 19th Century understand this mysterious and magical material? How do we know that it doesn’t actually exist? Why can we go ahead an ignore that anyway when writing?

Zebulon Vitruvius Pike. Gentleman adventurer, mercenary explorer, dime novel hero and veteran of the late unpleasantness. After serving in the US Aeroship Cavalry and as special agent to the President, Pike left government service to travel the world. When not saving civilization as we know it from science pirates, abominations of nature and invaders from the beyond, Professor Vitruvius occasionally lectures on topics of interest in history, science and technology. Meanwhile, in the unforeseeable future, Kevin Geiselman has been attending, running and presenting at science fiction conventions for several decades. And while he considers himself a writer of not insignificant skill, he has yet to be formally published.